Synopsis: After escaping war in their home country, Sabah and part of her family end up in a hospital in Sweden. As developments unfold, Sabah will have to make a difficult choice for both herself and her family.

What inspired you to make this film?

“My parents were refugees and I’ve worked a lot with unaccompanied refugee minors as well. It’s hard not to get affected by everything that’s happening in the world. I wanted to show the consequences of war, the humanitarian crisis and a family bond put to test during an escape from war.”

What do you want American audiences to know about this film or about the subject matter?

“Don’t fear the migration. Fear the reason why people have to flee for their lives. The last time the world met this number of refugees was after WW2, when nations came together to create the United Nations and the declaration of human rights. Today, partly in response to this humanitarian crisis we’re seeing a rising intolerance & xenophobia, where countries almost compete to be the toughest to protect themselves from refugees and even bargain deals with countries to take on the “burden” of hosting these people. 65 million people around the world are displaced. That’s 65 million who will most likely never be able to return back to their homes. Escaping our international responsibilities & duty as fellow global citizen and human beings is not going to solve this crisis. Quite on the contrary, it’s only going to result in an even bigger crisis. It seems as if the world has confused isolation with strength, where polarization is slowly becoming the new norm. But we have to remember that an unstable world is an unsafe world for all.”

Is it difficult to make films in your home country? Why or why not?

“Sure, it can be hard to make films without any finances what so ever. But I’m incredibly aware of the societal structures and power relations. I believe that all of us are affected by the norms that surround us. I’m convinced that a pen and paper can change everything, especially when the camera is my weapon. My ambition is to break stereotypes and free society from homo- and transphobic, racist and sexist elements.”

Director Bio:

Begonia Randhav is a Swedish-Kurdish Law School student at Stockholm University. She is a One Young World Ambassador and filmmaker who recently was awarded with the International Humanitarian Platinum Award for her filmmaking and humanitarian work. She combines global issues with her passion of filmmaking and uses it to provoke a discussion.

On the 25th of November in 2014 she launched a campaign film for United Nations Association of Sweden to raise awareness of the International Day for Elimination of Violence against women. She did that while she was the Millennium Development Goals Ambassador for the United Nations Association of Sweden. The campaign went viral in Sweden, and when she represented Sweden at the One Young World Summit, the world youth leaders and founders of the organization were so affected by the campaign, it went international. She currently works with unaccompanied refugee minors and also within the women’s refugees.

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Festival Cinema Invisible has partnered with the Redding Chapter of Euprhates Institute and the Shasta County Arts Council to bring the two-day film festival, “The Best of FCI”, to Redding, California USA January 6th-7th 2017.